Hey, did you catch that rain last night? Pretty brutal, huh? Turns out it was more brutal than you thought–here’s a FoHi-centric report from CBS.

Before I head out on my big European vacation, I wanted to call attention to the awesomest Forest Hills feature in Time Out New York since the one that revolved around me (warning: formatting now completely screwed up). I subscribe to TONY, but thanks to jellystone anyway for tipping me off. You gotta admit you never saw this one coming: the Forest Hills pub crawl.

That’s right! TONY profiled bars in eight neighborhoods. Seven of those are widely known for their nightlife. But somehow the Hills made the cut, so there we are, right alongside such luminaries as the LES, Park Slope, Hell’s Kitchen, Harlem, the UWS, the UES and Williamsburg. Are we just the token Queens destination? Nah–if they wanted to hit up Queens, they could have done Sunnyside or Astoria or even emergent LIC, right? But they didn’t. And I don’t see Staten Island or the Bronx represented in there.

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Here it is: me on Brian Lehrer Live yesterday. For the record, it was a blast. Lehrer is a great guy, as is producer and occasional sub Marty Goldensohn. And hey, there was an actual green room, with cheese and everything. In short, being on TV is awesome and I plan to do as much of it as possible. I can’t embed due to the tyranny of RealPlayer, so just click the link above.

I was pleasantly surprised by how telegenic I was, but based on the video, I am going to have to predict total baldness within five years.

Oh, you don’t want to miss this. Did you like the radio appearance? Well, I — yes, me – will be appearing on actual television today (Wednesday) on CUNY TV, Channel 75 on your cable-television dial. It’s Brian Lehrer Live. Brian Lehrer, if you’re not aware, is a much-beloved multimedia host who was also the host of the radio program where I appeared, only he wasn’t because someone else was hosting. But I’m assured it’ll really be him this time! I can’t wait! We’ll be live, so call in and say hello — 212-251-0801.

I will be discussing how to get the best deal on a fuel-efficient family automobile in this era of huge gas guzzlers and hybrid two-seaters. Wait, no! I’ll be discussing Queens, as per usual. Be there!

Hey, be on the lookout for the new community newspaper for West-Central Queens, The Forum West — the “first regular issue” is out

right now, and it includes my debut column. I may be biased, but I think it’s got a different (and better) take on community matters than the other rags. Case in point: the inaugural restaurant review from Avenue Food’s Sarah, in which she makes Queens community newspaper history by giving — I hope you’re sitting down — a mediocre review to Manor Oktoberfest at Atlas Park. That’s right — not even once does she suggest you’re stupid for not eating there, and she describes one dish as “gloppy.” It’s truly a landmark moment in local journalism.

Distribution details are sketchy and there’s no website yet, but I personally picked up a copy at the Citibank on the corner of Austin and Continental in central FoHi.

Predictably, Queens listeners of New York Public Radio’s Brian Lehrer Show were mildly annoyed Monday by a panel discussion with Brooklyn bloggers, so this morning, Lehrer (or, more accurately, his substitute host) made up for it by bringing on none other than yours truly, Harpsichordist Meg of OuterB and Joey in Astoria fame, and Kel of South Jamaica’s Progressive Southside. As I’ve been telling everyone, it was a blast — everything you’d imagine appearing on a popular radio program would be, minus the cushy green room with finger sandwiches and gift bags (we waited to go on while sitting on chairs in a narrow hallway outside the studio). Honestly, meeting Meg and Kel was just as great as being on the show — they’re really nice, interesting, intelligent people capable of — as you might expect — some insightful analysis of their respective communities. The whole experience sorta made me want to drop everything and get into radio — but in the short term, it also revived the dormant concept of a potential Queens blogger powwow to rival Brooklyn’s. Thanks for bringing us together, WNYC!

I regret only that, as our host lamented as I was hitting my head on the speaker on the way out, we didn’t have more time (though I bet he says that to all the Queens bloggers). To the guy who called in: If you’re reading this, I totally wanted to answer your questions! I’ll belatedly try it now: The answers are Central Queens got the shaft during the latest MTA issues, as always and Yes, everybody hates those awful McMansions and the people who build them, regardless of ethnicity.

Did you miss it? How dare you? Well, thanks to the miracle of Web 2.0, you can make up for it right here:

First in a (not really) recurring series: Anthony Bourdain, the sometimes-entertaining, sometimes-irritating chef-turned-TV-personality who you suspect is right about many things, but not quite so many as he thinks he is. In a two-hour special currently airing on Travel Channel, fellow TC foodie (and native New Yorker) Andrew Zimmern takes his adventure-seeking soulmate to restaurants serving his beloved “bizarre foods” in Brooklyn and Queens. Bourdain, quite casually, remarks that he has never been to Brooklyn. Later, he says he’s never been to Queens, either. Not even to the airport?

According to Wikipedia, which is never wrong, Bourdain is 51. He moved to New York City at 19, thus giving him 32 years to actually leave Manhattan. Sometimes I have trouble leaving the neighborhood for the weekend. But for 32 years? C’mon, Tony, cooks aren’t that busy. I know I’ve seen your pal Batali tromping about in his silly clogs. Before I saw the special, I would have described Bourdain as more obnoxious than me, but also much cooler. Now? OK, still much cooler. But less cool than I thought!

Exciting stuff going on these days as the universe continues to revolve around Queens, as well it should. First off, yours truly is scheduled to be on The Brian Lehrer Show on WNYC, 820 on your AM dial, this Friday sometime between 11:25 and 11:40 in the a.m. perhaps even the whole 15 minutes. Truly, we all do get our 15 minutes of fame. We’ll be discussing Queens blogging. I do not expect to be alone (John from About.com? Harpsichordist Meg?), but at the moment, I am severely lacking in details. I certainly hope you got invited, Forest Hills 72 — after all, you’re actually posting stuff.

Second, there’s a new weekly newspaper in town: Forum West, covering Forest Hills, Rego Park and several other areas with which this website does not concern itself. It’s the companion to Forum South, an existing paper focusing on parts of Queens I’ve been to maybe once or not at all. Queens gadfly and Forgotten NY mainstay Christina Wilkinson is the editor and promises less pay-as-you-go journalism and more stories you might actually want to read. I will be contributing a column, and if there’s anything you’d like to see me cover, you know where to find me. No website yet, but stay tuned.

Are we changing the cachet yet?

Got an e-mail from a New York Times reporter today who’s doing a neighborhood profile on Rego Park and wants to talk to people who live there, particularly if they’re “active in the community” or recently moved there and love it. Interested? E-mail me and I’ll send you her contact info. Don’t miss this chance to represent for Rego in the Gray Lady!

I’ve returned from Oklahoma just in time to discover that my home borough has New York City’s largest inferiority complex, though I could have told you that. Apparently the hot new term is “third borough syndrome,” as coined by the Queens Tribune, and surely this is the first time the Trib has ever come up with a phrase that garnered coverage in The New York Times. You know what my favorite thing about third borough syndrome is? The implicit disrespect to the Bronx and Staten Island, which have apparently dropped off the list — if they were ever on it in the first place — of boroughs even worth a moment of consideration. Doesn’t this sorta prove that Queens is now big time? The NYT deigns to mention it in the same breath as Manhattan — ritzy! – and Brooklyn — super hip! The buzzword for Queens is real, as “third borough syndrome” originator Tom Finkelpearl (great name) puts it.

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